Work on BSL Advisory Council ‘will continue to go ahead’ following Boris Johnson’s resignation, DWP confirm

Recruitment for the council advising the UK Government on British Sign Language (BSL) will “continue to go ahead”, despite Boris Johnson resigning as prime minister on Thursday morning.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokeswoman confirmed work would carry on in a statement to The Limping Chicken on Friday – just over 24 hours after Mr Johnson admitted “no one is remotely indispensable” in British politics.

The speech outside Downing Street came after the government ministers, personal private secretaries (PPS) and secretaries of state – including Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid – stepped down from their positions en masse.

Chloe Smith, the Minister for Disabled People who has overseen work on the BSL Act before and after its passing in April, did not resign from her post.

Mr Johnson told reporters: “It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.

“I’ve agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week.

“I’ve today appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until the new leader is in place.”

It was also reported on Thursday that Mr Johnson told his cabinet no “major changes of direction” or “major fiscal decisions” would be taken while he serves as a so-called “caretaker” prime minister.

David Buxton, chair of the British Deaf Association and founder of the BSL Act Now campaign, added: “We will continue to work with Chloe Smith MP, the Minister for Disabled People, and her staff on the implementation of the BSL Act, including plans to advertise and recruit Deaf BSL signers for the BSL Advisory Board this summer.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID) said the charity was “confident” work on the BSL Act and establishing the BSL Advisory Board would “go ahead as planned”.

“We will continue to engage with the Cabinet Office and press them to ensure that they work with the Deaf community on implementation of the Act,” they said.

Photo: Tim Hammond/No 10 Downing Street

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.